I'm depressed

[stanncie]

Jules I would like to visit canada and especially the french part, they say it's more french than france itself, is that true? lol My cousing is moving to montreal in 3-4 months and she is rather nervous cuz her french is not that great, I guess she'll learn right?

Back on topic, i'm now a regular at the bitchy teacher class, like I said before her class is awesome even if her attitude sucks. She even has added an ab section after the class is done so instead of an hour you end up being there for 1 1/2 . She is a killer though, she has us do like 200 sit ups which is rather painful. Now i'm driving for almost 45 mins to get this class which is absolutely crazy, all my friends think this is nuts and my family too but hey that's nothing new with me is it?

[jennifer]

Oh, she'll learn, but worst comes to worse, there is always someone who speaks english in montréal! No worries

[stanncie]

ah yeah jenn, I forgot you live there!

My cousin has never lived outside of Peru,she's traveled to the US many times but that is a whole different thing. I think it will be a big move for her.
Poor thing, she speaks perfect english,german and spanish but only a little french.
I'm sure the weather is going to be a big adjustment too

[Jules80]

well its pretty french. mtl almost everyone can speak english. particularly in the touristy areas. and smack downtown. Many other places in the province of quebec are very french. however in tourist areas you'll always find ppl that speak english. also the fact that you speak spanish makes it a lot easier. i can't actually speak spanish but in puerto rico i could understand the airport announcements you'll be amazed at how much you can understand. the french are definately more useless at speaking english than quebecers are.

as for your cousin moving to mtl, there are obviously neighborhoods that are more english than french... when she starts looking, jen and i can definately help - point out where she should or should not be looking to be in the right neighborhood language-wise.

Jules

[jennifer]

Exactly, no worries!

[stanncie]

thanks jules and jenn , the two j's for your help. I will let you know when she is getting ready to move. BTW her husband is already there, he is peruvian also so she'll just be moving to whatever neighborhood he's settled in.
As far as spanish being a help, it is for me in reading french but deff not in picking up a lot from people speaking. I barely understood anything when people spoke in french while in paris but maybe I just don't have a good ear

[Jules80]

quebec french is to france french what latin america's spanish is to spain's spanish. (do i sound like i regurgitated the SATs?) i have a very hard time picking up spain spanish. but yet latin american not so bad... not to say i understand everything but i frequently get the general idea.

at any rate, if they have children, they'll have to go to french school (the law forces immigrants and their children to go to french school... fun eh?) and then they can translate at least that's what my parents did with me my dad always claims that i speak french so he doesn't have to... a lot of good that does him when i'm 3 hours away 99% of the time all this to say. may parents have lived there for 30 years and my dad cannot carry on a conversation in french. but they live in the west island which is very english speaking (although certain parts are becoming increasingly francophone). where does your cousin's husband live? do you know?

ok i'm done rambling now

Jules

[stanncie]

lol jules! my mom's english is not great but she can get around ok. Where are your parents originally from?
I don't know where he lives yet, all I know is that he's working in some information company in montreal, i'll let you know once I know more

I know what you mean about spain's spanish, even I , a native spanish speaker have to concentrate hard sometimes to understand everything a spanish person is saying , their accents are just so thick

[Jules80]

My parents are british. although my mum did take a bit of french in school so had an easier time picking it up here.

france french is the same for me. esp if i'm tired, i have to focus to understand. although one of my good friends here is french so i'm getting better at the france french. now i don't feel so bad not understaniding a word of spain spanish ...esp since i don't actually speak spanish! lol

i'm done rambling again...


...oh ya and who is the pic of below your posts? (can we tell i live in hole???)

[stanncie]

yeah don't feel bad jules, the spanish have a very very thick accent and the way they pronounce their c's and z's annoys every latin american

the guys on my sig is juanes. Again don't feel bad about not knowing him he is from colombia and only sings in spanish. He is one of my fave singer/songwriter though and is well known in latin america, very latin cities in the US and europe. He is also gorgeous and that helps and seems like a nice catholic boy haha. If you are interested in hearing his music you can check it out here in his english site www.juanes.net/index_english.htm or you can just check out the pics if you like

[Jules80]

cool... what's the link between juanes and nelly furtado?

jules

[stanncie]

they did a duet together once on a song called fotografia, I think that's all and they obviously respect each other

[Jules80]

cool... i guess nelly must speak spanish too... then again from what i understand portugese and spanish are really close.

and you're right.. he's definately hot!

Jules

[stanncie]

yes portuguese and spanish are extremely close. I can understand any brazilian pretty well if they speak slowly, i've never heard a person from portugal speak so I don't know about that.
do you like her? i think her songs are very good too and she seems like a really nice person. Also, one of her favorite bands is oasis so she's cool in my book

[Jules80]

i really do like nelly furtado! her music is great - i have both albums... i believe i heard rumors of a third being released soon woohoo!

jules